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“We are eager to expand and this was a tremendous opportunity for us. It’s a growing business,” said Aaron Nelson, senior vice president of operations for 2020 Solutions.

The Washington state Liquor Control Board allotted 15 retail pot licenses to Whatcom County — six in Bellingham, one each in Ferndale and Lynden, and seven others countywide. 2020 Solutions was among the businesses selected by lottery for a chance at the six coveted retail licenses that the liquor board allocated for Bellingham.

The Lozanos bought the license for their second store from an applicant that was picked by lottery for a chance at one of the retail licenses set aside for Whatcom County at large, according to Nelson. That business was The Green Pot.

The second 2020 Solutions store will be about 1,700 square feet, or three times the size of the first store. For Saturday’s opening, the Guide Meridian store will sell, for $10 each to the first 50 customers, the Rocket Man Super Joint from NW Organic Nursery , a grower-processor near Everson.

. Catherine and George Crum were the applicants. Catherine Crum said the couple’s reason for entering the recreational pot business was a five-letter word, “money.”

“We don’t smoke it. We don’t eat it. I’m a dissertation away from a Ph.D. and I can’t get a job around here,” she said of her special education doctorate and the couple’s desire to be able to make a living in Whatcom County.

Two weeks after Washington state voters legalized recreational pot, Crum looked at her husband and said, “ ‘Why don’t we grow it?’ We’ve been researching it and talking about it and learning more about it ever since.”

She said they hoped to have their first harvest available in mid-December.

, in the Bellingham area. Mark Caplin and Sara Martin were the applicants. They hope to have their first harvest of marijuana on store shelves by Feb. 1, under the name Sonic Green.

“I think it’s clearly the next gold rush. You’ve heard it called the green rush,” Caplin said of his reason for entering the recreational pot business, adding that he believed it would become a multibillion-dollar industry.

“I wanted to get in on the ground floor of this industry,” Caplin said. “If you have the means to do it, I think it’s foolish not to do it.”

White said he’s been growing marijuana for medical use after a vehicle accident left him a paraplegic 10 years ago, but he worried about legal compliance because of the state’s unclear medical marijuana laws.

Recreational marijuana provided that legal assurance, at least at the state level, so he decided to enter the new industry.

“It wasn’t really an option for me,” White said.

Tier 1 is the smallest grow operation allowed by the state. White said he wanted to continue to focus on the quality of his marijuana instead of the quantity, especially for those who use pot for medical reasons.

“Our goal is to, hopefully, be able to provide the same pricing points that the mass-producing companies are, but offer a quality product,” he said.